STAY IN TOUCH

OK, I've been working on this website since March and haven't posted a painting yet. The articles have been about my building the website instead. In part, that's because I am a computer geek. And I wanted to get the basic bones of the site in place first (more about that in a future blog post). Now that that's done though, I think I can start showing some artwork!

Berto Ortega - St. Augustine Twilight

Morgan Samuel Price - Whispering in the Wind

Charles Dickinson - King of the Forest

Cynthia Edmonds - Marina Isle

Georgia Ball - Storm on Lake Monroe

(click the image to see the caption)

Before going to far, I probably should explain that my partner Kevin and I have been collecting plein air and studio landscape paintings since 2005. Our collection focuses on artwork that captures scenes in and around Central Florida. We purchase most of our art from Central Florida artists or artists visiting here during one of the area's plein air events. Last year we were lucky enough to have 45 works from our collection show at the Polasek Museum and Sculpture Garden in Winter Park, FL. The paintings above were included in that exhibit - "Captured in Paint: Central Florida in Art."

In the spirit of full disclosure, I should also mention that I was the organizer of the Crescent Beach Paint Out from 2005 thru 2009 and the Co-Chair of the Winter Park Paint Out since 2009 - we just celebrated our 10 year anniversary! So if you're wondering why this website, its because I love paint outs, I love plein air art and I love plein air artists!

Over time, I'll include more artwork from our collection in this blog. And I'll also try to write a bit about my experinces organizing paint outs over the last 13 years. I hope you enjoy the slide show. If you do, please join our email list and like or follow us on your favorite social media outlet. We have pages on Facebook, Twitter and Instagam. Thanks so much and have a great day - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Entry types and deadlines are one of the most important parts of an event listing at PaintOuts.com. One of our goals is to keep artists apprised of paint outs looking for new artists and event application and registration deadlines.

Each event works a bit differently in terms of artist selection, but we’ve tried to put them all into one of the following categories:

1. Invitational – Artists are sent invitations by a selection committee. Some invitational events solicit input from various third parties about new artists to consider, but generally speaking, the selection committee does not accept input or requests for inclusion directly from interested artists. We’ve extended this category to also include events where you must be a members of a given artist group to participate. Invitationals are the most difficult paint outs to join, even for established artists.

2. Juried Entry – Artists must submit resumes, images or other information to a jury committee. All entries are evaluated after the due date to determine the slate of artists who will participate in the next event. We classify events as Juried Entry even if the event sends invitations to a limited number of artists. Often invitations are extended to past artists who sold well and Juried Entry is used to bring in new artists to keep things fresh.

3. Open to All Artists – There is no selection process for these events. There’s also no registration requirement or entry fee – you just show up. Open to any artist of any skill level, these events are for fun and fund raising.

4. Open with Registration – Another event open to all artists, but usually with a limited number of spaces filled on a first come, first serve basis. As such, it’s important to get your registration in as early as possible.

5. Open with Registration and Fee – Similar to 4 above but artists are asked to pay a fee to join. The money is used to defray event expenses and raise money for a worthy cause. Fees can vary widely by type and amount so be sure to check out the event website for details.

At PaintOuts.com, we’ve tried to classify each event using these five categories as best we can. But please check each event’s web site to determine the specifics of their selection or registration process. To paint out organizers, if we’ve classified your event incorrectly, let us know and we’ll update your listing as soon as possible. Thank you.

I added Google Analytics to Paintouts.com two weeks ago. I don't have a huge number of users yet, but some of the results have been very interesting. For example, the amount of traffic that comes to the site from social media referrals is much greater than that from organic searches (e.g., google or bing). But what really amazed me was the number of users connecting from a mobile device - up to 60%!

Both of these require some action on my part. For the first, I plan to work next week on search engine optimization (SEO) and metadata for the site. That should help users find Paintouts.com when doing a search. To address mobile users, I've tweaked the module positions in my Joomla template (CloudBase3) to put more of the fun stuff at the top of the site. This blog post for example will now appear below the list of upcoming paint outs. Hopefully these changes will make the site more useful and interesting to visitors on mobile devices. Well, I guess that's all for now. Thanks much and have a very mobile week. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..